Advanced Chemical Engineering Research Volume 3, 2014

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Influences of Silicabeads on the Venting of

Weakly and Strongly Foaming Systems
Henrik Leimeister*, Jrg Steinbach
Department of Process Engineering, Technische Universitt Berlin, Germany
Strae des 17.Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
henrik.leimeister@tu-berlin.de; joerg.steinbach@tu-berlin.de

Abstract
Venting of systems containing solids has so far been treated
as venting of two-phase systems and the presence of
particles has been neglected. For nonfoaming systems, this
has shown to be an appropriate assumption. To verify if this
assumption is also valid for foaming systems, experiments
were carried out regarding venting foaming systems without
particles and in presence of silicabeads of varying sizes.
Results show that particles influence the ventig behaviour.
These results differ largely in respect to the degree of the
foaminess of the system. Nevertheless recommendations for
the design of pressure relief devices for foaming two-phase
systems are with some limitations also applicable for threephase systems.

been shown that two different scenarios can occur.

Either the particles can be vented almost completely at
the beginning of the venting process or they can be
hardly vented at all. Apart from those phenomenological observations, no direct influence has been
described so far thus leading to problems in the design
of venting devices for those scenarios.
To determine how solids affect the venting behaviour
venting experiments were carried out weakly for
strongly foaming systems with and without the
presence of particles. This research will lead to more
precise recommendations for the design of venting
devices for foaming three-phase systems.

Keywords
Venting; Foam; Multi-phase

Motivation and Objectives

Phenomena during vent processes have been
investigated for several decades. [DIERS, 1986]
Starting with single-phase flow design models have
now evolved to a precise design of venting devices for
two-phase flow [Schmidt, 2007]. Nevertheless, highly
viscous systems and foaming systems still lead to
limitations that can only be met by over conservative
assumptions. [Duh, Hu, Chang, Kao, 2009]
Addition to liquid and vapour components solids
inside the systems vented becomes in terms of heterogenous catalysis more important. For nonfoaming
systems, research showed that they do not have a
significant impact on the venting behaviour. [Waldram,
McIntosh, Etchels, 2006] Multiple variations of particle
parameters such as size, density and surface structure
did not lead to significant differences in the venting
behaviour. Design of nonfoaming systems containing
solids is thus treated as if the particles were not
present. [Poli, Imhof, Holst, Steinbach, 2008]
The influence of solids on the venting of foaming
systems has not been deeply investigated so far. It has

FIG. 1 SCHEMATIC SETUP OF THE ADCII TAKEN OUT OF POLI,

IMHOF, HOLST, STEINBACH [Poli, Imhof, Holst, Steinbach, 2008]:
(1) Reactor (1.2 L); (2) Orifice (2 mm); (3) Pneumatic driven ball
valve; (4) Venting pipe; (5) 120 L-catch tank; (6) Stirrer; (7) Heater; (8)
Heatercoil; (9) Temperature transducer; (10) Pressure transducer; (11)
Temperature transducer; (12)Oven; (13) Feed supply; (14) Peristaltic
pump; (15) Glass tube with orifice (optional)

Experimental
Experimental Setup
Experiments were carried out in a modified ADCII,
Adiabatic Dewar Calorimeter II, by Chilworth
Technology, Inc. The system consisted of a 1.2l reactor
with a height to diameter ratio of roughly 4:1. The top
1

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and bottom of the reactor were constructed with steel

while the walls were made of glass to get an inside
view on the phenomena occurring during venting. A
detailed description can be found in FIG. 1.
The systems were heated internally via a heatercoil.
An oven surrounded the reactor following the
temperature of the reactor and thus reducing energy
losses of the reactor to the surrounding to a minimum.
Venting was initiated by opening a ball valve with a
pneumatic lift. The ventline was then limited to a
minimal diameter of 2 mm at an orifice. During heatup,
venting pressure and temperature of the reator as well
as the temperature of the oven were recorded.
For the analysis of foam, structure and particle
behaviour during venting images of the reactor were
recorded at 10 Hz with the high resolution CCDcamera CV-M40 by JAI Corporation.

Advanced Chemical Engineering Research Volume 3, 2014

influence of the particles on the venting behaviour. At

low SDS-concentrations, minor effects of the particles
on the pressure decrease over time was observed.
For experiments with 0.005g/l SDS up to 2.5 bar, no
significant differences were seen for all two-phase and
three-phase systems. At pressures below 2.5 bar, the
pressure decrease of systems containing particles is
lower than that of the two-phase sytems.. The medium
sized and large particles behaved very similar and
showed a maximum deviation to the two-phase
system of roughly 0.1 bar. The difference for the
systems with the small particles was more pronounced.
Differences of up to 0.3 bar in comparison to the twophase systems were observed. Pressure over time for
the experiments at 0.005g/l SDS is shown in FIG. 2.

Investigated Systems
Unstirred vapour pressure systems of water were
investigated. To induce strong foaming sodium
dodecyl sulfat, SDS, by Merck Schuchardt OHG was
added to deionized water in concentrations from
0.005g/l to 0.5g/l. All experiments with SDS were
prepared with a solution of 1g/l SDS that was stirred
at room temperature for at least 48 h before use since
SDS hydrolizes forming an alcohol that increases the
foaminess. To prove that after 48 h no influence of the
ageing is seen, venting experiments for solutions left
ageing for up to one month were conducted. Results
showed no significant differences in their venting
behaviour. For weakly foaming systems isobutanol
was added to deionized water in concentrations of
1w% to 50w%.
As solids, Silicabeads Typ S by Sigmund Lindner
GmbH were choosen. They consist mostly of SiO2.
Their shape is that of a perfect ball with a plain surface.
Size fractions of 0-50 m, 70-140 m and 90-150 m
were used to study the effect of differing particle
weights. For the three-phase experiments conducted
the mass fraction of the particles to the overall system
was kept at 20w%.
All systems investigated had a fill level of 85%. The
venting pressure was kept constant for all experiments
at 6 bar.
Results
Strongly Foaming Systems
Venting of strongly foaming systems showed a strong

FIG. 2 PRESSURE OVER TIME FOR EXPERIMENTS

CONTAINING 0.005g/l SDS

The differences of the behaviour of the small particles

in comparison to other particles can be explained by
the degree of suspension of the particles in the reactor.
While the larger particles stay at the bottom of the
reactor throughout the whole vent process, the small
particles are lifted up by the bubbles forming at the
bottom of the reactor and within the particles.
At the beginning of the experiment, the small particles
also lay as a stable layer at the bottom. But over time
more and more particles are suspended until at
roughly 2.5 bar all particles are suspended within the
water. At this point, the foam structure dramatically
changes. The bubble size inside the foam shrinks
appears to be more stable.
This can be explained by the size of bubbles reaching
the surface. Due to the layer of particles at the bottom
of the reactor, small bubbles formed cannot rise upon
formation. They have to coalescend with other bubbles
and grow in size until their buoyant force is strong
enough to break through the particles holding them
down. Once all particles are suspended, smaller

Advanced Chemical Engineering Research Volume 3, 2014

bubbles can rise and thus changing the structure of the

foam.
For the other particles, massive eruptions of large
bubbles are observed especially at lower pressures.
Those eruptions rupture the foam structure above the
liquid. Since the foam structure of SDS is relatively
stable, not all of the foam is destroyed and two-phase
discharge continues.
At the end of the experiment, the foam collapses and
only single-phase discharge is observed from then on.
For all experiments with SDS, this occured at roughly
1.4 bar
At higher concentrations of SDS, the behaviour of twophase and three-phase systems differs more
significantly. For concentrations larger than 0.05g/l
pressure decrease over time is faster when the
concentration of SDS is increased. This is not the same
for systems containing particles. Their pressure
decrease over time stagnates in this range of
concentrations. As an example, pressure over time for
systems containing 0.07g/l is presented in FIG. 3.

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SDS, as shown in FIG. 4, a clear effect of the particles

especially at low concentrations is found. At 0.005g/l
SDS, the discharge is more than tripled by the addition
of the smallest particles. For scenarios taking
impurities or leftovers from cleaning into account, this
effect may lead to dramatic increase of size and thus
the cost of downstream components like catch vessels
or gas separators has to be taken into account during
design.

FIG. 4 RELATIVE OVERALL DISCHARGE OF LIQUID FOR

SYSTEMS CONTAINING SDS

At SDS concentrations larger than 0.02g/l, the mass

discharge of the two-phase systems exceeds that of the
three-phase systems. Differences are not larger than
15% and in a range where almost complete discharge
of the liquid is observed. Thus the implications are
not that significant as for the effect at low SDS
concentrations.

FIG. 3 PRESSURE OVER TIME FOR EXPERIMENTS

CONTAINING 0.07g/l SDS

Explanations for this behaviour can again be found in

the foam structure during the experiments. Due to an
unrestricted bubble rise in two-phase systems, very
dry foam structures are established with a low liquid
mass fraction and thin boundary layers. Thus more
gas is vented than that in the three-phase systems and
pressure decrease is enhanced.
Addition to the pressure over time during venting the
mass discharge was analysed. Liquid and solid were
analyzed independently. All information is given as
relative discharge, meaning discharge of the solids or
liquid over there initial mass at the beginning of the
experiment.
For the relative liquid discharge of systems containing

Compared with the three-phase systems, increased

mass discharge with decreasing particle size is
observed. The difference of the small particles is more
pronounced than that of the medium sized and large
particles. This is explained by the more stable foam
structure at the end on the vent process as described
before.

FIG. 5 RELATIVE OVERALL DISCHARGE OF SOLIDS FOR

SYSTEMS CONTAINING SDS

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Solid discharge is hardly observed. A maximum of 5%

of the solids is discharged during the vent process.
This equals 1% of the overall mass. Thus solid
discharge can be neglected in the design of venting
devices for the particles investigated. As shown in
FIG.5, the particle discharge increases with decreasing
particle size. Only around 1% of the medium sized
particles and large particles was vented.

Advanced Chemical Engineering Research Volume 3, 2014

sized and large particles can be seen in FIG. 7.

Weakly Foaming Systems

The effect of particles on the venting of weakly
foaming systems was quite different from that on the
strongly foaming systems. At low concentrations
particles slow the pressure decrease over time. As
shown in FIG. 6 for systems containing 3w%
isobutanol, the pressure of two-phase systems exceeds
that of three-phase systems by up to 0.5 bar till a
pressure of 2 bar.

FIG. 6 PRESSURE OVER TIME FOR EXPERIMENTS CONTAINING

3w% ISOBUTANOL

Differences can again be seen in the venting of the

three different particles sizes. Again the smallest
particles show a different behaviour from the other
particles. As in the case of strongly foaming systems
they form a homogenious suspension at roughly 2.5
bar and foam structure changes.
The larger particles form a layer at the bottom of the
reactor letting only large bubbles pass through. The
effect of those large bubbles on the foam structure of
the weakly foaming systems is similar to the effect
described for the strongly foaming systems. The large
bubbles rupture the foam layer on top of the liquid.
But in the case of weakly foaming systems, almost all
of the foam is destroyed and discharge turns singlephase for a short period of time till smaller bubbles
rebuild the foam. The destructions are more
pronounced for the largest particles. The process of the
foam rupture by large bubbles and the resulting
single-phase discharge as observed for the medium
4

FIG. 7 RISE OF A LARGE BUBBLE THROUGH THE PARTICLE

LAYER (a), FOAM RUPTURE (b) AND RESULTING SINGLEPHASE DISCHARGE (c) AS OBSERVED DURING THE VENTING
OF A SYSTEM CONTAINING 3w% ISOBUTANOL AND
SILICABEADS 90-150m

As the concentration of isobutanol is increased, the

behaviour of the sytems remains similar with the
difference between the two-phase and three-phase
systems increase as can be seen in FIG. 8 for systems
containing 10w% isobutanol.

FIG. 8 PRESSURE OVER TIME FOR EXPERIMENTS CONTAINING

10w% ISOBUTANOL

FIG. 9 PRESSURE OVER TIME FOR EXPERIMENTS CONTAINING

30w% ISOBUTANOL

At concentrations of isobutanol that exceed the

solubility limit of isobutanol in water for the
temperature range of 100C-160C observed during
the vent process, an interesting effect occured. For
experiments containing 30w% isobutanol, an abrupt

Advanced Chemical Engineering Research Volume 3, 2014

destruction of the foam was observed at 4.0 bar to 4.5

bar. From the moment of destruction, no formation of
foam was observed for all experiments even though a
large amount of bubbles was still formed during the
rest of the vent process. The pressure over time for
those experiments can be found in FIG. 9.

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systems was similar to that of strongly foaming

systems as can be seen in FIG. 11. A maximum of 3.2%
of the particles were vented. Again the smallest
particles were discharged significantly more than the
medium sized and large particles.

This effect is explained by an excess layer of

isobutanol that forms on the surface of the liquid.
Once it reaches a certain thickness, it destabilizes the
surface of the bubbles formed since no foam can be
formed within a pure substance [Wasan, Nikolov,
Shah, 2004].
Surprisingly, this effect was not found for systems
containing 50w% isobutanol. For the two-phase
system as well as the three-phase systems containing
50w% isobutanol, foam was observed throughout the
whole experiment. Seemingly, only a specific range of
concentrations meets the conditions in which the foam
structure is unstable enough to be destroyed within
the isobutanol layer. For 50w% isobutanol, the foam
structure may already be too stable to be ruptured
during the short passage through the excess layer.
The mass discharge of the systems containing
isobutanol followed the trends observed for the
pressure decrease over time as shown in FIG. 10.

FIG. 11 RELATIVE OVERALL DISCHARGE OF SOLIDS FOR

SYSTEMS CONTAINING ISOBUTANOL

Conclusions and Recommendations

Experiments showed that the addition of particles to
foaming systems affects the vent process in multiple
ways. Particle addition leads to a prolonged twophase discharge if foams are stable enough to endure
the turbulences created by the particles inside the
reactor.
Thus strongly foaming systems that have very stable
foam structures have an increased mass discharge by
the addition of particles and pressure decrease over
time is slowed. In contrast, for weakly foaming
systems where instable foam is observed, decrease of
the overall mass discharge and faster pressure
decrease over time was found.

FIG. 10 RELATIVE OVERALL DISCHARGE OF LIQUID FOR

SYSTEMS CONTAINING ISOBUTANOL

For all systems investigated, the mass discharge of

liquid ranges between 40% and 60%. The discharge of
two-phase systems exceeds that of all three-phase
systems for all concentrations investigated. Differences
range up to 10%. Surprisingly, the mass discharge of
the experiments with 30w% isobutanol is not less than
that of the other experiments. Most of the mass
discharge seems to occur at the beginning of the vent
process. Thus the break down of the foam structure
does not affect the discharge significantly.
The mass discharge of solids for weakly foaming

The main reason for the increased two-phase

discharge for stable foams can be found in a general
increase of the foaminess by addition of particles.
Experiments carried out in another setup showed that
the particles function as nucleation point and induce a
more evenly distributed bubble formation over the
crosssection of the reactor. [Leimeister, Steinbach (a),
2013] This effect is more pronounced at low
concentrations since at higher concentrations twophase mass discharge is observed throughout the
complete vent process.
In the systems investigated in this paper, no
significant discharge of particles was found. Previous
experiments showed scenarios with almost complete
particle discharge. [Leimeister, Steinbach (b), 2013].
The major parameter to explain these different
behaviours seems to be the hydrophilic properties of

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Advanced Chemical Engineering Research Volume 3, 2014

the particles. In aqueous systems, hydrophobic

particles are vented almost completely while
hydrophilic particles are hardly vented at all.
Recommendations given in this paper are limited to
scenarios of aeqious systems with hydrophilic
particles as third phase.
For the systems investigated in this paper, the use of
the recommendations of Schecker [Schecker, Friedel,
2004] is
suggested.
Schecker
experimentally
determined the radial distribution parameter during
vent processes for weakly and strongy foaming
systems. It was concluded that for the radial
distribution parameter of 1.01 for strongly and 1.2 for
weakly foaming systems, the use of the model by
Henry-Fauske with a submodel of DIERS bubbly flow
in the reactor is suggested for the design of venting
devices. [Schecker, 2003]
For weakly foaming systems this will also lead to
conservative results for three-phase systems. This
accounts for low concentrations as well as for
oversaturated systems.
For strongly foaming systems, the recommendation is
also valid under the restriction that low concentrations
are also treated as if they would lead to constant twophase discharge. This may be over conservative, but
since the mass discharge differs so significantly
between two-phase and three-phase systems, no other
option seems to be valid. The effect of the particles on
the pressure decrease over time can be neglected for
the design since the major differences occur at
pressures where the danger for the reactor is not that
serious.
REFERENCES

DIERS. Technology Summary: Emergency Relief Systems

for Runaway Chemical Reactions and Storage Vessels
A Summary of Multiphase Flow Methods. New York:
American Institution on Chemical Engineering, 1986
Duh, Yih-Shing, and Hu, Kwan-Hua, and Chang, Jy-Cheng,
and Kao, Chen-Shan. Visualization of emergency
viscous two-phase venting behaviours. Journal of Loss
Prevention in the Process Industries 22 (2009): 145152
Leimeister, Henrik, and Steinbach, Joerg.(a) "The Influence
of Hydrophilic Properties on the Venting of Foamy Three
Phase Systems" Process Safety Progress (2013) in press
Leimeister, Henrik, and Steinbach, Joerg.(b) Venting of
Foaming

Three-Phase

Systems

with

Hydrophilic

and Hydrophobic Particles Chemical Engineering

Transactions 31 (2013): 745-750

Poli, Marco, and Imhof, Henrik, and Holst, Niko, and
Steinbach, Joerg. Venting of Foaming Three-Phase
Systems, Chemical Engineering & Technology 32 (2009):
312-318
Schecker, Joern, and Friedel, Lutz. Untermodell fr das
Aufwallen von schumenden Gemischen bei Druckentlastung Forschung im Ingenieurwesen 69 (2004): 44-56
(in German)
Schecker,

Joern

Analytische

und

experimentelle

Untersuchungen zur strmungstechnischen Auslegung

der Entlastungseinrichtungen fr die Notentspannung
von

Reaktoren

bei

schumenden

Stoffgemischen

Aachen: Shaker Verlag, 2003 (in German)

Schmidt, Juergen. Sizing of nozzles, venturis, orifices,
control and safety valves for initially sub-cooled
gas/liquid two-phase flow The HNE-DS method,
Forschung im. Ingenieurwesen 71 (2007): 47-58
Waldram, S., and McIntosh, R., and Etchells, J., Reactor
Pressure Relief of Fluids Containing Suspended Solids
Process Safety Progress 25 (2006): 214-226
Wasan, D., and Nikolov, A., and Shah, A. FoamingAntifoaming in Boiling Suspensions, Ind. Eng. Chem.
Res. 43 (2004): 3812-3816
Henrik Leimeister n Imhof has earned
a diploma in Business Engineering for
Technical
Chemistry
from
the
Technische Universitt Berlin, Germany
in 2008. During his diploma, he focused
on safety engineering as well as
innovation and project management.
He currently is a research assistant at Prof. Steinbachs chair
at the Department of Process Engineering of the Technische
Universitt Berlin. During his studies at the Technische
Universitt, he was a research assistant in the field of
physical chemistry for two years working on
microemusions. Currently he studies the venting behaviour
of foaming and nonfoaming systems in the presence of
particles.
Prof. Jrg Steinbach has earned a
diploma in Chemistry from the
Technische Universitt Berlin, Germany
in 1981. He afterwards did his PhD in
Chemistry at the Technische Universitt
Berlin, Germany in 1985. While being
employed at ScheringAG, Germany
from 1985-1995 he achieved his
habilitation in safety engineering in 1994. Since 1996 he has

Advanced Chemical Engineering Research Volume 3, 2014

been Professor at the Department of Process Engineering.

He currently is President of the Technische Universitt
Berlin after being its First Vice President from 2002-2010.
While still leading his chair on Process- and Plant Safety, he
also focuses on the development of the engineering studies
in Europe.
Prof. Steinbach is chairman of the board of ASIIN e.V.,
member of the Presidents Advisory Council of the

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Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology,

Chairman of the AVI, Akkreditierungsverbund fr
Ingenieursstudiengnge e.V. and is a member of AICHE and
NYAS. He is a former member of the KAS, commission for
plant safety, of the Bundesumweltministerium, a former
board member of the section for Safety Engineering of the
DECHEMA and was president of the SEFI, Socit
Europenne pour la Formation des Ingnieurs from 10/2007
to 09/2009.